Francesco Bagnaia has been declared the winner of Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi after Fabio Quartararo was disqualified. The Frenchman had claimed his second career win after a tense head-to-head battle with Bagnaia but the Speed Up rider was excluded due to illegal rear tyre pressures, promoting Bagnaia.
The news broke around two and a half hours after Quartararo’s victory with the team summoned to a hearing with the MotoGP Stewards Panel. The no.20 machine was found to have rear tyre pressures that were lower than the parameters advised by official supplier Dunlop. As a result, the race winner was excluded from the result, the first time a victory has changed hands on a technical infringement since Misano 2017.
The disqualification has serious ramifications for the championship with Bagnaia gaining five extra points along with his eighth win of the season. Although his title rival Miguel Oliveira also profited, moving up into a podium spot in third, Bagnaia’s championship lead has grown still further to 37 points and the Sky VR46 rider can clinch the world title if he outscores the KTM by 13 points at Phillip Island next weekend.
Speed Up have not appealed the decision from the Stewards Panel, meaning the revised result will stand.
Moto2 Motul Japanese Grand Prix (Revised Result)
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